Citation

Pirkis J, Burgess P, Blood RW, Francis C. Psychiatr. Danub. 2006; 18(Suppl 1): 114.

Affiliation

University of Melbourne, Program Evaluation Unit, School of Population Health, University of Melbourne, 3010, Melbourne, Australia. j.pirkis@unimelb.edu.au.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2006, Facultas Universitatis Studiorum Zagrabiensis - Danube Symposion of Psychiatry)

DOI

unavailable

PMID

16964068

Abstract

Background: Few published studies have examined the proportion of suicides that are reported, or considered the factors that make a suicide newsworthy. Methods: We retrieved newspaper, radio and television reports on individuals suicides from 515 Australian sources in 2000, and compared them with routinely-collected national data on all completed suicides for the same period. Results: Of 2,341 suicides occurring in the study period, 20 (1%) were reported. Suicides by young people and by females tended to be over-represented among those that were reported, as did those that involved violent methods. In the majority of reports, the suicide was considered newsworthy in the context of a broader issue (e.g., the state of the mental health system). Some, however, received attention because the individual was a local figure, or because the circumstances surrounding the suicide were unusual (e.g., murder-suicide). Conclusion: Only a small proportion of suicides are reported, but there are issues about the extent to which "mass mediated reality" reflects "official reality", and the way in which some reports are framed.

Language: en